Increase footfall with Google Ads

Key take-aways

You may think that driving people to your website is the only use for online advertising – but did you know that if you have a physical shop, Google Ads can be key in bringing more customers through your business’ front door? Research shows that 50% of customers who searched locally on their smartphone visited a shop within a day, as did 34% who searched on a desktop.

With online resources like Google Maps, it’s easier than ever for potential customers to jump online and find a local business the moment that they’re ready to visit in person. Is yours one of the businesses that they’ll be able to find? Read on to find out about adjustments that you can make to your Google Ads campaign to help you increase shop traffic.

1. Pinpoint your location on the map

2. Reach local customers with location targeting

3. Show your address with location extensions

4. Draw visitors to your door with location extension targeting

5. Gain deeper insights with Google Ads Shop Visits

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads is an advertising service by Google for businesses that want to display ads on Google search results and its advertising network.

By using location extension targeting, your ad will be displayed when someone is physically in the area around your store location.

1. Pinpoint your location on the map

The first step in order to increase footfall is to make sure that people can find your business both online and in the street. Make sure that your business is showing up on Google Maps and in the right location by verifying it through Google My Business. It’s free to do, and any of your potential visitors will be able to get directions the moment that they want to come and visit you.

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2. Reach local customers with location targeting

If your advertising goal is to boost in-shop traffic, and your shop is located in Croydon, for example, then it might not make sense to show ads across the whole of London – because you’d be spending your advertising budget to reach people who won’t want to travel that far to visit you.

Instead, you could use the Google Ads location targeting feature. This option lets you limit the geographic areas your advert is shown in, meaning that you choose to show your ads only to people who are searching close enough to come to your business. Location targeting is highly recommended for businesses with physical locations, as it not only draws new customers in at the moment it matters, but because it also helps you to use your Google Ads budget more effectively. Explore more about location targeting.

3. Show your address with location extensions

Some people might be searching to visit a business like yours immediately, rather than wanting to explore your website first. You can accommodate these ready-to-go customers by using location extensions. These show your address in your advert and give your visitors directions to your business through Google Maps. In mobile advertising, location extensions include a clickable link and on supported devices, can also show how close a user is to your business.

4. Draw visitors to your door with location extension targeting

If you’re already using location extensions, consider using them to further target your ads.

Targeting by location extension is different than regular location targeting. With the regular targeting, your ads will show only in the areas you set, according to your normal bid amounts. With extension targeting, your ad can appear in a wider area, but you’ll also select a closer physical radius around your shop, and set a higher bid on searches performed within it. Your bid amount will adjust automatically, and you’ll be much more likely to show up when someone searches for what you offer right when they’re close enough to visit.

5. Gain deeper insights with Google Ads Shop Visits

Shop Visits is a metric option in the Estimated Total Conversions feature of Google Ads. By noting how close people are to your shop location when your advert is displayed, and then tracking if they visit, Shop Visits gives an estimation of how many people went to your shop because they saw your advert. This information can tell you a lot about how your online advertising is working to increase shop traffic for your business, and help you to design even better, smarter local ad campaigns.

Why is the Shop Visits metric only an estimation? Google designed Shop Visits so it protects customer privacy and security, first and foremost. The metrics are based on anonymous insights from a sample set of users that have turned on Location History on their devices, and a user’s actual location is never provided to advertisers.

There are a couple of other things to keep in mind about the Shop Visits option. Its insights only cover customer visits to your shop’s location, not in-shop transactions or conversions – and your business needs to meet a handful of requirements in order to be able to use Shop Visits.

Don’t underestimate what online advertising can do to help your business increase shop traffic.

When you create a Google Ads campaign that helps people to find you both on their screens and in the street, you put yourself on the map as a go-to destination for the things that your local customers want, while providing them with an easier shopping experience and giving your business an in-shop traffic boost.

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